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Nipplegate! France's First Lady's Breasts Are Causing Quite a Stir

The gorgeous former model Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, who also happens to be France's first lady, posed for photos at the Elysee palace in Paris last week. At issue: Her nipples.

As she welcomed Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev and his wife Svetlana for a state dinner, photogs snapped Carla in a form-fitting dress that got people buzzing about what's appropriate for a first lady, or any lady, to show.

Salon's Kate Harding says she's about had enough of female body critics: "What I do care about is how women in the public eye are endlessly monitored to see if they've put a toe (or nipple) over the line of acceptable sexuality--a transgression matched in manufactured outrage only by their failures to be feminine enough," she writes. "I weep for the day Shiloh Jolie-Pitt hits puberty. And as long as a woman wearing a boatneck, long-sleeved, full-length gown with sensible low heels can be cast as trampy and inappropriate because she got photographed in unfortunate lighting and/or a drafty room--as long as the line highly visible females are expected to walk is that freakin' fine--I really don't want to hear one more word about how sexism has nothing to do with the lack of women in positions of real power."

My take? A nipple is a nipple is a nipple. If they make you uncomfortable, maybe avert your eyes. Thoughts on this debate?